14 April: Skaife's First Win

Jimmy and I had come out of the blocks fast in 1991. All the work on the GT-R in the back end of 1990 and over summer had given us a car that was reliable enough for us to drive hard. Jim was the reigning Champion, and I was keen to make my mark. At the time I had never to this date run a full Australian Touring Car Championship, and I was finally getting my chance. – Mark Skaife, Mark Skaife: The Autobiography

It's a pleasure to witness the first flowering of a new talent, and that's exactly what we got to see as the championship took its traditional swing west. At Wanneroo Park, Mark Skaife took the first of what would one day be a record number of victories, a cause for celebration at Nissan and anyone else interested in the sport... and yet, there was no getting away from the fact that he didn't have a lot of competition on the day, as the grid behind him was mostly empty air.

Young Skaifey, not pictured at Wanneroo '91.

 

The Heart Grows Fonder
If grids had been anaemic at Sandown and Symmons, they were downright anorexic by the time of Wanneroo. None of the local Western Australian drivers were able to join in the fun this year, leaving Local Colour like Tim Slako and Alf Barbagallo conspicuous by their absence, while the GIO-backed Bob Forbes team elected to stay home, shaving Mark Gibbs from the entry list as well. That left just eleven cars to take starter's orders for this round, and that, gentle readers, just might be the record for an officially-sanctioned touring car race in Australia.

That's all of them.

Because the first third of this year has been so hectic for me personally, I can't remember if I only just learned this or if I was saving it for now, but either way: the reasons why bit deep into the state of motorsport in early 1991. What with one thing and another, governing body CAMS had been in financial trouble even before the recession; once downturn set in, however, the jitters turned to outright panic. To stave off bankruptcy the Confederation resorted to steep hikes in their fees, to the tune of $10,000 for any track that wanted to host a round of the ATCC, and $6,000 per car for the teams (double those figures if you want to know what that's worth today). That was far too rich for the weekend warriors, who vanished from the series overnight.

So by the time the circus arrived in Perth, only the hardcore pro teams were still in the game: the Dick Johnson Racing pair of Dick himself and sidekick John Bowe; the Mobil twins of Peter Brock and Larry Perkins; the Benson & Hedges M3s of Tony Longhurst and Alan Jones; Win Percy for the Holden Racing Team; Colin Bond's red Caltex Sierra, and the blue Peter Jackson equivalent of Glenn Seton; and the mutual admiration society over at Gibson Motorsport, Gentleman Jim and young Skaifey. That was it, the whole 11.

Testing Times
After the spanking they'd received in Rounds 1 and 2, most of the teams had spent the month between Symmons and Wanneroo doing some much-needed homework, seeking to get their cars up to the searing pace now required in Group A. Most of the focus had been on reducing weight, which would've reduced lap times even as it eased the burden on their overworked tyres, so there must've been some swearing when CAMS introduced a 2.5 percent increase in homologation weights for all cars across the board. The idea was to encourage privateers back into the game by sparing them the expense of parts made from exotic materials, but with zero privateers on the grid in WA, we've already seen how successful that was. The road to Hell really is paved with good intentions...

The times being what they were, of course, all the testing had been done with no money, which would have consequences for the Wanneroo weekend. John Bowe went through two engines on Saturday before catastrophically blowing a turbo in the Sunday morning warm-up, leaving him to start the race second-last (with only Larry Perkins behind). Win Percy meanwhile had fronted with HRT's first '91-spec engine, built to capitalise on the intake and exhaust freedoms introduced at the start of the year, with Rob Benson having reportedly expended five engines and 3,000 litres of fuel on the dyno putting it together. Unfortunately, all the effort (and expense!) was voided when Percy blew it up in Friday practice, leaving him to qualify and run the race with, effectively, the engine with which he'd won Bathurst.

It was rather impressive, then, that he still managed to qualify 2nd with a lap time of 59.26 seconds, beaten only by Dick Johnson's 59.10! In a season dominated by the Nissans, seeing the works Holden and de facto works Ford starting at the front was an unexpected delight for the fans. Jim Richards was in fact only third-fastest with a 59.38, which inevitably led to accusations of sandbagging by the Gibson team – but no, the time was genuine, a fact traceable to violent understeer in the GT-R.

“There are lots of high speed changes in direction here,” Richards explained, “and with a full load of fuel the car has inherent understeer characteristics.” He made it sound boring enough, but on the road it was substantially more heart-in-mouth: in one of the practice sessions Richards had gone straight ahead entering Turn 1, and only just managed to pull it up before the sand trap. Skaife had it even worse, unable to complete the latter half of the turn and landing in the sand proper, almost rolling another priceless GT-R.

He was able to drive it out again thanks to the four-wheel drive system, but it left him to start 6th with a time of 59.65 seconds, behind even Tony Longhurst (59.54) and Glenn Seton (59.60). Wanneroo Park was still king of the tyre-shredders, and with its enormous kerb weight and more than 600 horses under the bonnet, 4WD was an advantage the GT-Rs would sorely need. Both Richo and Skaifey would need to introduce some reticence to their driving if they wanted to see the chequered flag.

Jim won the first two rounds of the 1991 Championship at Sandown and Symmons Plains, and then we went to Perth for the round at the track we now know as Barbagallo. It's a great track – I'd driven the GT-R there the previous year and it was, and still is, a real car-control track that I liked right from that first visit. It's a low-grip track and the cars slide around, which damages the tyres. It still has that tendency today and is the hardest place on tyres per kilometre in Australia. So often it feels like driving in the rain, but if you were able to make the tyres last while still going fast enough, there were big gains later in the races. – Mark Skaife, Mark Skaife: The Autobiography

We Few, We Happy Few...
So the incorrigible eleven lined up on the grid before the Wanneroo control tower and waited for the off. It wasn't long coming: the starter raised the green flag, held it for a brief pause, and then gave it a mighty heave, signalling the beginning of Round 3.

From pole position, Dick launched his Sierra perfectly, forcing Percy to tuck in behind him. Once again both GT-Rs made demon starts, but Richards got stuck behind Percy, whereas Skaife pointed his nose at the outside line and found wide open space for his horses to gallop, so it was Skaife who followed Dick into the first turn, with Percy relegated to 3rd and Richards 4th.

It quickly emerged that Johnson's surprise turn of speed in qualifying had been strategic – he'd bet everything on a Moffat-style strategy of running flat-out with a light fuel load and soft Dunlops, hoping to build a gap before a planned mid-race stop. In the early laps it seemed to be paying off, as Johnson's advantage over Skaife stretched from 2.2 seconds by the end of lap 1, out to 3.4 seconds by lap 4. But was that going to be enough? The answer, as we found out on lap 5, was no, as the gap shrank back to 2.7 seconds and remained there or thereabouts ever after. He'd needed to pull out a second per lap to even have a hope against the Nissans, and with the race less than ten minutes old that was already out the window, as his pace fell away far too quickly. Tyre-hungry Wanneroo had already eaten his Dunlops.

So what about Win Percy in the Commodore? Well, by lap 11 Richards was finally close enough to make a move on him, diving up the inside into Turn 6 and holding his breath as Percy decided whether or not to slam into him in reprisal. Ever the professional, Percy decided against it, and the Kiwi held the place as they exited the turn, the Nissans now running 2-3 behind Johnson's distant – but not distant enough! – Shell Sierra.

Having lost a place to the Nissans, Percy then had to fend off the buzzing irritant of Tony Longhurst in the BMW. Wherever the track climbed or held straight the little Bavarian car struggled, but as soon as the road turned it came into is own. Only a lap after Richards had shown the way through, Longhurst tried it at Turn 6 as well, and only the fact that he couldn't match the Commodore on power stopped him taking the place there and then. Up the back straight the Holden pulled away, but when they arrived in the hard braking zone at the bottom of the hill he was all over Percy once more. For the second time in two corners, Percy kept the place only because of engine power, but even so the sheer speed of this new-fangled M3 was deeply worrying. The ace up the M3's sleeve had always been tyre life, so there was every chance Tony would be able to do this all day and spring a surprise late in the race.

On lap 15 they came back from an ad break and had the bright idea to talk to Dick Johnson in the lead, which was now back out to 3.5 seconds. Unfortunately Dick was already in trouble and, well...

Neil Crompton: Dick you're working pretty hard at the wheel there as we take Dunlop RaceCam. Is the strategy going to work?

Dick Johnson: Oh, God only knows, mate. It's got more pops than a lollypop shop at the moment. It's just a gamble, mate, we've gotta see how it pans out in the end.

Mike Raymond: What did you hope to have over the two Nissans when you pulled in for your pit stop?

Johnson: Well, the way this thing's going at the moment I don't think that'll happen.

Raymond: You have got to do a pit stop, Dick? There's no way you can go all the way?

Johnson: No mate, she's just sorta...

At that very moment the vacuum-cleaner howl of the Cosworth engine plummeted, signalling the #17 was a dead car rolling. “You do this to me, Mike. I don't know how you do it!” said Johnson with a despairing laugh. “I haven't...” said Raymond in shock. “Oh mate, I've given you the kiss of death again!”

By the time they hung up Dick was already in his pit box, taking service from a crowd of smartly-dressed DJR mechanics, but now it didn't matter. Even a healthy car would've struggled to win the race from there, and the #17 wasn't one of those. He lost more than a lap in the subsequent stop and even when he did rejoin, he was catastrophically slow. Johnson gave up and simply toured back to the pits to park it, the head gasket having once again proved the weak link in the RS500.

So the top four now were Skaife, Richards, Win Percy and Tony Longhurst: another Nissan 1-2, with the marginal interest that it was more like a 2-1, according to the numbers on their doors. The remarkable thing was that neither Longhurst nor Percy were falling behind, even though there were no team orders at Nissan and both Skaife and Richards were free to try and win it. The reality was neither of them dared push too hard lest their tyres die and leave them stranded, so the race was effectively sewn up. Team orders or not, there were no more lead changes to come.

So what about everyone else? Bond and Seton kept their Sierras running, but the price of reliability was speed, which they never really found and so never made an impression. Peter Brock's pace was limited by the fact the engine would misfire any time he accelerated too hard, hinting at a fuel pump problem that would keep him from making a dent either. His teammate Perkins never featured in the race at all, so why he had no pace today (or for that matter, why he'd started dead last) were never really explained. So the entertainment in the middle of the race had to come from Longhurst, who was still hounding Win Percy for all he was worth.

Feeling the pressure, Winny ran wide at Turn 7 and clambered over the kerb, leaving the door open to Tony, who dashed through without a second thought. It was now Nissans 1-2, Longhurst 3rd, but Neil Crompton swiftly noticed that Win had a problem. Rather than getting back on the pace, the Commodore was now in limp-home mode as he returned to Turn 1 – not crawling and spewing smoke, just no longer running at race pace. Crompo speculated he had a flat tyre, but no, it turned out the Commodore was simply overheating. Longhurst had pushed him so hard he'd melted the mighty Holden V8 trying to stay ahead.

Win headed to the pits and, when he got there, removed his helmet while the mechanics ambled around the machine with absolutely no urgency. This one couldn't be fixed, so it was game over for the Holden Racing Team. Mark Oastler was Channel Seven's man in the pits that day, and asked Percy what had gone wrong.

Win Percy: Oh, about three laps ago I flicked a fan belt and the generator light came on. I assume the engine's cooked. I watched the water temperature go up. Going onto the straight here I went over my own water and nearly lost the car. I'm afraid the engine's finished. Probably an alternator belt for all I know.

Oastler: Were you happy with the performance of the car up 'til then? It looked like you were going very strongly in 3rd place.

Percy: Yeah. I guess the Nissans are gonna be the problem, and the Bee Em, and that wasn't far out. But yeah, I was enjoying it. I think I was giving the Nissan a pretty hard time, in fact a very hard time. I think now we might soon close on the Nissans a little bit.

Percy's demise promoted Longhurst to 3rd, where he'd remain for the rest of the day. Shortly thereafter Brocky also elected to park it, the misfire apparently worsening to the point that he couldn't continue. With Larry Perkins also pitting that same lap (most likely for tyres), it was a bad day to be a Holden fan. Perkins would be the sole Holden to see the finish, and he would be a lap down.

Not that it was an awful lot better being a Ford fan – John Bowe made a tyre stop halfway through the race, just as the boss had intended to do, but a halfshaft failure shortly thereafter crippled the car in mid-flight. After a visit to the pits to see if it was fixable (if wasn't), Bowe pointed its nose back at the track and kept circulating anyway. With championship points paid back to 10th place and fewer cars than that left in the race, he was guaranteed to score if he could just hold out to the chequered. He would eventually limp home 8th place, five laps behind Mark Skaife.

So although it wasn't quite as straightforward as it might look in the history books, Wanneroo once again slid inexorably into yet another Nissan 1-2. The GT-R was fast, but that didn't mean the drivers could relax: talking to Richards over RaceCam, Mike Raymond extracted this.

Mike Raymond: No understeer problems as such today?

Jim Richards: Yes if you push it real hard, but we're driving it so that it doesn't have any.

Raymond: Well I think the both of you have about a twelve-second break on Tony Longhurst, and the rest of them I think have probably parked.

Richards: Well, y'know, you can't afford to let up. Our cars aren't doing it easy around here, I can tell, you and it's bloody hot. And Tony at any time can keep attacking, but we're getting a bit slower...

Raymond: The next round is a fortnight from today at Lakeside, and I guess like everyone else you've heard the rumours that Tony's been very quick around there with the BMW. Is that a track that you think you're going to have some difficulty with the Bee Ems?

Richards: For sure. We know he's quicker than us around there so it'll be very very interesting...

More interesting than this race, for sure, which had degenerated to the point of speculating about others!

This one looks like it was taken at Mallala, but you get the idea.

Eventually the “last lap” sign was shown, and Richo had one last look at overtaking his teammate, but it was never on. The two Nissans had run out the clock and now, at last, crossed the finish line to chalk up another Nissan 1-2 finish – this time, with young Skaife taking the honours. A summer blockbuster it might not have been, but it was official, and it had been against genuine opposition. Richards hadn't been hanging around, but he just didn't have an edge against his young teammate – an ominous sign for the rest of the grid. Young Skaife was already as good as any driver alive.

Neil Crompton: He got you by a couple of car lengths, but it was a great drive?

Jim Richards: Oh listen, Mark's driving as good as anybody out there. He got the start, and I wasn't about to do anything silly; no team orders, he won fair and square. Good stuff.

Crompton: Another great performance again from the Nissan team. You've done your homework, and things still look good for you in the championship?

Richards: Yes, yes. It wasn't that good in practice, but we thought we had a good race package and we're still gathering some points, so it's good.

Crompo then turned to Skaife, but Skaifey was all business:

Mark Skaife: Yeah it was very good. I'd just like to thank Nissan for their efforts, because the car doesn't suit the circuit overly well, and the boys worked very very hard to make it a good package, and the car was fantastic.

Crompton: What was going through your mind? I know it's an old cliché question, but you must've thought, “Can I get this thing? Can I actually get up and win a round of the touring car championship?”

Skaife: Yeah I suppose the first two rounds, our obligation, meaning Jim and I, was to do the best for Nissan. And again, that's what we've tried to do today. Off the start I got a great start, and Jimmy was sort of boxed in, so it was just the advantage of this run.

That was Skaife when he was still driving, all work and no play. After 30 years to let it sink in and get some perspective, however, he was able to wax a bit more lyrical.

On this weekend, I was driving no better than Jim, but the cards fell right and I had my first ever round win – even though I'd run fewer than 20 rounds in my career to that date. I think in all Australian motorsport history up to that point, only around 20 people had actually won a round of the Championship. So that was pretty big in a 24-year-old's life. – Mark Skaife, Mark Skaife: The Autobiography

3rd place went to Longhurst, a warning shot if ever there was one. The upcoming run of Lakeside, Amaroo, Winton, Lakeside again and finally Oran Park were sure to smile on the BMWs far more than the Nissans, so if anyone was going to reel them in for the championship, it was going to be Tony.

Crompton: The coming tracks are going to be curious, to say the least, for the Nissan team. We know you've tested in a few spots, and you're not that happy with the balance of the car on this tight stuff. This bloke over here in yellow's going to give you a bad time?

Skaife: I think for sure. And I think Win Percy in the Commodore again showed today how competitive he is. So it's going to be very tight racing, it'll be fantastic.